Nickname: MicroShaft?

Review: Got a friend who says he sent Microsoft a business proposal in early March 2006 regarding a patented process that puts a navigational graphic called "GoPoint" right at the mouse pointer. Two modes: notebook users have a white space auto-launch; PC users have a right-click-hold-and-release mode. Either way, the friend thinks this would really "jazz" up Vista and IE by keeping pointer manipulation to a minimum, especially for notebook users without a mouse. My friend even thinks he's partially responsible for the delay. His arrogant, megalomaniacal hubris is nearly as bad as, what he says, is Microsoft's refusal to contact him about the proposal, after happily, joyfully accepting it. He says he hopes he isn't another example of being screwed by Microsoft. Time will tell, and so will I. After all, he is my friend.

Date reviewed: Mar 25, 2006 6:34 PM

Nickname: awelux

Review: I'm very surprised that people seam to be surprised about this delay. It's not like delayed release dates by Microsoft are rare. Nor are they an indication of a seroius problem. It's a well known practice of Microsoft to announce new products a few years early with slipping release dates. This way they can prevent others from switching to the competition because they can claim that the ultimate Microsoft product is just around the corner. You just have to lie a bit about the distance to the corner at the beginning to keep people interested.

Date reviewed: Mar 24, 2006 8:46 AM

Nickname: Winows Zealot

Review: The best any Windows user can pray for is that the next Windows release may incorporate some decade-old Mac OS X features, that Microsoft may get to work sort of, a decade after the Mac OS actually ships. Microsoft died five years ago and it's taken till now for the stench to reach a point where even the rabid Windows zealots and biggots can't ignore the smell. It's getting harder all the time for Windows fan boys to keep living the myth.

Date reviewed: Mar 24, 2006 3:07 AM

Nickname: Winows Zealot

Review: Apple routinely creates, implements and ships new innovations working flawlessly in single-digit months, that take Microsoft double-digit years to mimic, while unfortunately never getting them to actually work. Apple creates and implements innovations on the simple interest that Microsoft's R&D budget would generate during the single-digit months of development required. Apple ships on average six major and 60 minor operating system versions for each Microsoft OS release. Apple ships countless new innovations fully functional every year, while Microsoft announces equivalent vaporware and fantasy features they can't explain, none of which are considered relevant by the time they ship. Apple changes complete operating systems and switches hardware platforms flawlessly in the same time and with the same ease that Microsoft announces the next delay of whatever version of their NT5.X comes next.

Date reviewed: Mar 24, 2006 3:07 AM

Nickname: Frank Staheli

Review: I am smiling very loudly right now. A few years back at the company I work for we had a strident discussion about whether Microsoft is a monopoly. I explained to my co-workers that the only true monopoly is one fostered by government (which creates impossible barriers to entry for any other firms). I prognosticated that other companies would come along and innovate Microsoft to its knees. We would need to be patient for this to happen, but in a free market, ironically, such innovation is the only thing that is inevitable, not true monopolies. Poetic justice never looked so sweet. My plaudits to the innovators of the world--the Googles, Apples, Linuxes, et al. for making the world a better place. This is not to say that I hate Microsoft--I don't. Microsoft has provided the world a lot of benefit and still can in the years to come, if they now re-innovate.

Date reviewed: Mar 23, 2006 10:33 PM

Nickname: me

Review: Microsoft is reaping what it sowed. Merging all functionality under one product umbrella makes it very difficult to upgrade quickly or cleanly. They need to split the OS into a basic OS and individual piece parts, maybe even compete with other vendors of piece parts such as browsers, multi-media, etc. They will definitely lose market share over this mess and that's before it ships and the loose ends are exposed. RCG

Date reviewed: Mar 23, 2006 7:49 PM

Nickname: JAY

Review: It's Game Over for Microsoft. Dump the stock, shut that virus down, and move on.

Date reviewed: Mar 23, 2006 7:22 PM

Nickname: brianf

Review: I'm not looking for Microsoft to make substantial changes to the OS every year. I want to see a stable OS, upon which smaller, nimble developers can write utilities and applications to meet my needs. In my opinion, Microsoft has been rolling too much functionality into the OS. I'd like to see the registry die. It fills itself with bad information over time. Too many problems are only fixable by editing the registry, but every company tells you to only try their registry tweaks as a last resort! I'd like to see one easy location to determine what programs run upon startup. I'm tired of searching to figure out how to disable programs that decide they need to run on startup. I also don't understand why applications can't register which .dll's they need so that when I uninstall an application I don't get questions about if a .dll is being used by another program!

Date reviewed: Mar 23, 2006 5:25 PM

Nickname: Buick Bob

Review: Mr Gates, tell your highly paid executives to get off their expensive butts and generate some value to Microsoft stock for the investors!

Date reviewed: Mar 23, 2006 5:06 PM

Nickname: Rolando Blackman

Review: To be fair, if one considers that it is the "Plug and Play" interoperability of Windows with current and legacy hardware and software that is the underlying basis of its dominance, Microsoft has no choice but to exhaustively test any major new implementation of the Windows OS. The howls that would undoubtedly resound if there were problems with any significant elements or components would be far worse than the current discontent with the pace of the release of Vista.

Date reviewed: Mar 23, 2006 4:20 PM